Adopting a Bloodsucker
by Yoshiroo
Summary: Natsu stumbles upon a young raven-haired boy on the streets and decided to take him home. But what he didn't know was that he brought back something more than just a boy. Follow Natsu and Lucy as they discover the truth and face challenges in caring for a child. AU Vampires! Story and some drabbles. T for language.
1. Encounter

This is a society where humans coexist with vampires. But over time, vampires became only a myth to humans and their existence is rarely known or heard of in this age. A secret organization called The Council is responsible in monitoring the remaining vampires and make sure they obey laws and do not step out of line.

* * *

Rain poured down heavily on the midnight streets as a pink-haired young man ran along the pathway, futilely covering his head with his bag. Natsu was on his way home from his part time job at a Pizza joint nearby when rain suddenly started to pour. To add-on to his unlucky journey, he tripped on something laying on the roadside and fell face first on the cold hard floor.

"Damn! Who the hell puts their garbage on the side of the road?!" he cursed as he rubbed his injured face and checked for any other scratches. He was about to kick the so-called garbage in frustration when he heard a small whimper which halted his leg. With the help of the flickering street lights he noticed that the garbage shifted under his gaze, it took a few seconds before he realized that it was actually a cardboard covering a mop of raven hair.

"What the?! You alright kid?" he asked as he kneeled down to have a better look at the new acquaintance. He came face to face with a raven haired boy who wore tattered clothes which were soaking wet now and had only one shoe on. He looked like he has been on the streets for a couple of days.

The boy hugged his legs tighter at the sight of the other. "I'm s-sorry…" the boy stuttered in the cold.

Natsu scratched his head at the scene, unsure of what to do. He suddenly picked up the boy bridal style and tried to cover him with his bag. The boy gave a yelp at the sudden action and started to struggle with whatever strength he had left. "Stop moving or I'm gonna drop you! You prefer soaking in the rain?" Natsu said as he started running home again. The exhausted boy could do nothing but stay still in his arms, he instinctively snuggled closer to the other's chest to gain more warmth for his cold body and hoped that it was the right decision to trust the sudden stranger, not that he had a choice.

" _Lucy is going to kill me"_ Natsu sweatdropped at the thought as he ran through the rain.

* * *

15 minutes of running later

"Lucy! Open the door!" Natsu shouted outside his apartment. The sound of a chair shifting can be heard as his housemate shouted a reply "Again?! You can stay outside until you learn to not forget your keys!"

"What! I didn't forget my keys! Just open the goddamn door Luce!"

A sighed was heard before the door clicked open. "Did you lose your hands or somethi – Holy! Natsu what did you do?!" Lucy exclaimed as she saw her housemate but not because of how soaking wet he is but at the bundle of mess in his arms.

Natsu ignored her shouts as he kicked off his shoes and quickly stepped into the room and put the boy gently on the couch. "At least dry your feet!" Lucy scolded as she closed the door and followed him into the living room. "Oh my God Natsu! Did you kidnapped a kid this time?!" she shouted as she realized what her housemate had brought back.

"Calm down Lucy! And no, I found him on the streets. And I think he has been like that for a few days." Natsu said as he eyed the boy who was miraculously still asleep through all the shouting.

"So you brought him back?" Lucy started pulling off the boy's soaking shirt and took off his one shoe

"He was soaking wet Luce, I can't just leave him there." Natsu reasoned "and what are you doing?"

"I'm changing his clothes. He's gonna catch a cold like this if he hasn't already" Lucy proceeded to take off the boy's dirty pants.

"Pervert Lucy" Natsu snickered. A wet pair of pants smacked him in the face. "You do it then! He's your responsibility anyway since you brought him here" Lucy crossed her arms in protest.

"Hey! I was just joking" Natsu peeled the wet pants off his face

"Go get me some towels and wash the clothes!" Lucy commanded

"Aye!"

* * *

After pat-drying the boy and Natsu done with his bath, the two sat opposite of the boy who was now wrapped in towels and still asleep. Luckily the boy didn't develop a fever, but his body was still very cold.

"When do you think he is going to wake up?" Natsu said impatiently.

"Let him get some rest, he was on the streets for God knows how long. We don't even know did he eat something in the last 24 hours" Lucy massaged her temples. All this was giving her a headache, she knew there was a probability that Natsu would bring back another one after all the commotion he had caused last month by bringing back a stray cat. But she never thought it would be a child. The boy looked like only 3 to 4 years old, she frowned at the thought of what the boy might have gone through at such a young age.

The two could only watch and wait for the boy to wake up for further answers. But they never thought that what Natsu brought back was more than just a boy.

* * *

 **Hey people! Hope you liked the little intro. I will try to update and reveal more secrets soon =3 Looking forward to your reviews hahaha thankssss~~**


	2. Trust

" _What if they found out? What are they gonna do to him?" a raven-haired lady worriedly ask the man who sat beside her_

" _It's going to be ok Mika, we'll keep him safe and a secret from them" the man who also had raven hair comforted his wife, he hugged her tightly to give her a sense of security._

" _I know. But I'm just so scared"_

" _I will be here for you and our boy no matter what. My love for you two will overcome everything." He jokingly answered_

 _Mika smiled and chuckled a bit, she hugged her husband back and snuggled his muscular chest "I know. I love you too Silver"_

* * *

"Natsu!"

"Wake up!"

"WAKE UP NATSU!" A slap resounded within the apartment as Natsu woke up to a hard smack on his face "Huh? What? Who ate my ham?!" Natsu shouted as he jolted up from the couch with his hand on his face, trying to soothe the red hand mark. Guess he fell asleep on the couch last night after watching the boy.

"You're gonna be late for your morning shift sleepy head" Lucy said as she rolled her eyes. " _I should get paid from doing this everyday"_

"Huh? What time is it?" Natsu rubbed his eyes and stretched his sore back. Not a good idea to sleep on the couch

"9:50am"

"What?! Why didn't you wake me up earlier?!"

"I'm not your mother!" Lucy shouted as Natsu made a dash for his bedroom to get changed.

Lucy was a prodigy writer, publishing her first book when she was 15. Now she works as a freelancer at home while working on her next book. Natsu works part time at a Pizza shop nearby their apartment but is always late anyways. They have been housemates since they were 16.

Lucy sighed at the everyday scene as Natsu rushed out of the apartment and just shook her head. She returned her gaze to the sleeping boy on the couch. _"And he left me with his mess….. How long is he going to sleep?"_

Lucy stared at the boy for a while before going to the kitchen to make herself some breakfast. She took the food into her room so she can work on her current job request of writing a blog post for a client.

* * *

"BAK! BONK!" Lucy jumped as she heard the sudden sounds _"what in the world"_ she glanced at the clock and saw that 2 hours have passed since she started working.

She poked her head out of her room to investigate the cause of the noise. Her eyes went wide when she noticed that the couch was empty and only the towels that were covering the boy was left in its place. _"What the? He woke up?"_ She walked towards the couch to have a better look and found the boy crouching beside the couch, he hands clutching his mop of raven hair in pain as he tried not to cry. _"Did he hit his head?"_

"Hey, you ok?" Lucy leaned forward to have a better look at him. The boy turned his head towards the sudden voice and yelped in surprise. Dark blue eyes met brown ones as they stared at each other for a few seconds.

"Hey, it's ok, you're safe now." She tried to soothe and reached out to the boy

"W-who are y-you" the boy asked as he tried to back away. Well, you don't expect a boy to say hi when he was suddenly "kidnapped" and woke up to a strange girl staring at him.

"I'm Lucy. My friend brought you here last night since you were soaking in the rain" She explained gently

The boy took a quick look around the room and shifted his gaze back to the girl called Lucy "W-where am I? Where's mama and papa?"

Lucy flinched a bit when she heard the boy asking about his parents. She regained her smile back and looked at the boy "You're at my house. I'm sorry but I don't know about your mama and papa"

The boy's face gloomed at the answer and stayed quiet while pulling his legs closer to his chest, making him look even smaller than before. "What's your name?" Lucy tried to shift the boy's attention.

"I'm not supposed to talk to strangers" the boy answered monotonously

Lucy was taken aback at the answer and an animated vein popped up from her forehead. _"Stranger huh? So much for taking care of you last night"_

"Gray"

"What?" Lucy surprised at the sudden reply

"My name… it's Gray" the boy, Gray, said as he glanced at her before looking back at the ground

"Oh. That's a cool name Gray" Lucy smiled at him "You wanna have something to eat?" As if on cue, Gray's stomach demonstrated its whale mating call in reply, he blushed at the sound and nodded sheepishly while using his hands to cover his stomach as if it would make the sound softer.

"Come on, you can wait in the kitchen while I make you some ham sandwich" Lucy chuckled at Gray's cute side and offered him a hand. Gray accepted and followed her to the kitchen. She lifted and plopped Gray onto the chair and she started taking things out from the fridge to make the sandwich.

Gray absentmindedly played with an apple on the table as he waited. "Hey, no playing with food Gray" Lucy half-heartedly scolded when she saw that the apple almost fell off the table. "S-sorry" Gray shrunk in his sit. _"Goddamnit Lucy! Stop scaring the kid!"_ Lucy mentally scolded herself as she saw Gray's reaction.

Gray's face quickly changed to a drooling smile when he saw the sandwich being handed to him. There was a piece of ham, some lettuce, tomatoes, and some sauce. He was about to grab it and chunk it in his mouth but stopped and looked at Lucy, like he was waiting for something.

"What's wrong? Don't like it?" Lucy raised an eyebrow at his actions

Gray looked at Lucy and back to the sandwich. "L-Lucy no eat?" he fidgeted in his seat

" _Awwwww"_ Lucy's mind screamed at his cuteness, her eyes soften at the scene "It's ok, I'm not hungry yet, you can eat first" she said as she gestured him to eat

Gray looked at her and hesitantly grabbed the sandwich, he quickly devoured the whole thing after the taste of the first bite and finished it in seconds.

"Slowdown will ya, you might choke yourself" Lucy chuckled at the scene.

"Yummy" Gray said as he gave her a big smile after wiping his mouth with the back of his hands.

"Now that you're done, you need a bath" Lucy managed to wipe off some of the dirt from the boy's body last night but he wasn't exactly clean yet. His hair was still a mess and needed some extreme scrubbing.

"But I don't wanna" Gray whined

"What do you mean you don't wanna? No boy covered in dirt is gonna stay in my house" Lucy put her hands on her hips to show some authority and that she means business.

Gray looked down at himself and realized he was actually quite dirty. And he realized something else too "Where are my clothes?" he looked at Lucy, wondering why he hadn't realized it earlier. He was only wearing his boxers as Lucy stripped him off his wet clothes last night.

"I washed them for you. And you can put some on after having a bath" Lucy stated as she reflexively pointed towards the laundry place.

Gray looked at her and nodded silently. Even though he didn't like baths he had to agree with Lucy this time. "Come on" Lucy gestured him to follow. Gray hopped down the chair and followed her quickly. Lucy was glad that the uptight and awkward atmosphere between them has lifted a bit, who knew you could win a child's trust with a sandwich.

* * *

 **Hey~ sorry there's nothing exciting this chap but please be patient haha hope you enjoyed it =D looking forward to seeing you in the next chapter**


	3. Search

The bathroom was not too big nor small, it was just the right size for a bathtub, sink, and toilet, as well as storage for some toiletries. Lucy started to fill the tub with warm water and touched it to make sure it was not too hot. She then took a small towel and wrapped it around Gray's waist before taking off his boxers.

"Do you wanna bathe yourself or need me to help you?" Lucy noticed that Gray fidgeting

"Mama usually washes my hair" Gray was starting to get embarrassed at the fact that it wasn't his mother who was giving him a bath.

"Hmmm ok then" Lucy chimed as she lifted Gray into the bathtub and gave him some soap and a sponge for his body.

"By the way, how old are you Gray?" Lucy asked as she started shampooing his hair.

"Hmmm" Gray counted his fingers "4!" He answered as he showed 4 fingers at her proudly

"Well, aren't you a big boy then" Lucy praised as she scrubbed his hair to get the dirt out.

After some scrubbing, Lucy rinsed his hair and was careful not to get any soap in his eyes, she checked and helped him with some of the spots that were not cleaned well and made sure he was sparkle clean before lifting him out of the tub. She dried his hair with a towel while he wiped his body with another one.

"Ok, smelling fresh and clean now" Lucy smiled as she took a better look at Gray. She realized that his skin was quite pale after the dirt had been cleaned off. His hair was black with a tinted of blue matching his dark blue eyes. There were some scratches here and there but they weren't serious, probably got it from staying on the streets.

They moved onto Lucy's bedroom where she rummaged her closet for any clothes that she can let Gray wear temporarily. She found a small white t-shirt with a snowflake in the middle and some blue pants. "This will have to do for the time being"

Lucy laughed as Gray finished putting on the clothes. They were a bit big but there were no other choices at the moment.

Suddenly, the sound of the main door opening caught their attention. "I'm home!" a shout came followed by the sound of shoes landing on the floor after they were kicked off.

"That must be Natsu, come on Gray" Lucy grabbed Gray's little hand and led him to the living room.

Natsu flopped down on the couch tiredly as Lucy came out with Gray. "Man! I got to stop taking back to back shifts!" Natsu complained as he took off his jacket.

"Welcome back, Natsu" Lucy greeted

"Hey Luce~ …Who's that?" Natsu said as he took noticed of them and raised an eyebrow at the boy

"What do you mean who is that?!" Lucy smacked him on the head "This is the boy you brought back yesterday, remember?" Lucy rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "His name is Gray"

"Gray?" Natsu resounded the name while rubbing his head "That's a weird name"

Gray didn't respond to his name being called weird as he was still dumbfounded by the scene in front of him. _"Lucy is scary"_ He concluded in his mind. Gray backed off a bit and held his arms in front of him in defense as a sudden blob of pink appeared in front of him.

"I'm Natsu. Nice to meet ya kid" Natsu was kneeling in front of him. He gave Gray a big grin smile and offered him a handshake

"Nice to meet you too." Gray replied as he accepted the handshake.

"You look different somehow" Natsu said as he started poking Gray's face and looking at him from different angles. Gray flinched at the sudden actions.

"I think that's because he just had a bath and is all cleaned up now" Lucy suggested while sitting down on the couch.

"Hmmmmm. So what are we going to do with him?" Natsu turned back to Lucy

"I don't know. Maybe take him home?"

"Hey kid, you know where's your house?"

Gray shook his head.

"What about your parents? Do you know their phone number or something?"

"Mama and papa gone… I-I tried to find them… but I can't…. t-they gone" Gray tried to hold in some sobs as he remembered what happened and tears were starting to form in the corner of his eyes. "I miss mama and papa…" sobs came from the boy as he tried to wipe his tears with his hands.

"Ahh... don't cry, it's going to be ok" Natsu panicky said, he didn't know how to deal with children crying and just instinctively hugged the boy

"We will help you find them, right Natsu?" Lucy was also beside them now, trying to reassure Gray that it is going to be fine.

"Yea! And you can stay with us until we find them" Natsu agreed with a toothy grin.

Gray looked at them and nodded his head between sobs "O-Ok" he replied as he tried to stop crying.

"Since I'm taking a day off, we can start searching tomorrow" Natsu pumped his fist in the air to show how eager he is to help Gray. "I'm all fired up!"

"Sounds good to me" Lucy smiled in agreement

Gray just smiled at them while rubbing his puffy eyes.

* * *

"Uughhh" Natsu tiredly sprawled his body on the floor. They just came back from one of their searching routines and were exhausted.

It has been almost 5 months since they started searching for clues on Gray's parents but they got nothing. Not that they didn't like Gray living with them, they were already quite used to having him around and even made the guest room as Gray's bedroom. But it was just that Gray sometimes have nightmares and cries because he misses his parents, it was heart-breaking for Natsu and Lucy to watch.

"It has been almost 5 months, and still nothing!" Natsu threw his arms in the air to exaggerate his point

"Yea, I hope we find something soon" Lucy put Gray down on the couch as he woke up from his nap. She stretched her arms to release the stress from carrying Gray when he started to lag behind on their trip, showing that he was tired.

"Hey, we're out of food Lucy" Natsu stated as he closed the fridge after inspecting it.

"Wanna go out for dinner and buy some groceries on the way?" Lucy suggested

"I guess so" Natsu half-heartedly replied

Lucy sighed. They just got back and now they have to go out again. They sat there for a few minutes to rest before heading out again.

* * *

"Don't wander off too far Gray" Lucy told the boy as they reached the supermarket and Gray just nodded in response. Lucy and Natsu started picking up the things that they needed, they didn't bother to compare the prices and stuff as they wanted to go home as soon as possible. Gray on the other hand was quite refreshed from his nap and started wandering around looking at things.

"Hey Natsu, do you wanna get strawberry jam or blueberry jam?" Lucy asked as she took both of them off the shelf to have a look

"I don't know, just get both"

"We can only get one"

"Ugghh… ask Gray" Natsu lazily passed on the question to Gray

"What do you think Gray?" She asked while still looking at the strawberry jam jar to see where the expiry date is.

"Gray?" Lucy turned around to search for the boy as she got no response from him. "Natsu! Where's Gray?!" She panicked as she couldn't see him nearby

"Calm down, he should be around here" Natsu started looking around for Gray as Lucy went to look for the boy on the opposite side.

* * *

Meanwhile, Gray had wandered off to the Pots and Pans section of the supermarket and was looking at his reflection on one of the steel pots. He giggled as the reflection bent weirdly when he moved his head. He moved his head to the left and made his eye's reflection on the pot look like Natsu's pointy eyes instead of his droopy ones, he laughed in amusement.

Unknowingly, Gray's laughter attracted attention. Another person who was in the same aisle almost dropped the pan he was holding when he laid eyes on the boy and realised what he was seeing.

"G-gray?!" the man shouted in shock

Gray turned his head towards the sound and his eyes widened.

* * *

 **Guess who might that be? =3**


	4. Reunion

"G-gray?!" the man shouted in shock

Gray turned his head towards the sound and his eyes widened.

The two started staring at each other before taking slow steps towards the other.

"Lyon!" Gray shouted in joy as he started running towards the sliver-haired man like a girl who is in a long-distance relationship with her boyfriend and finally got to see him.

"Oh my God Gray, is it really you?" Lyon crouched down to welcome the young boy who jumped into his arms. Lyon hugged Gray tightly as though he would disappear if he let go. "Where have you been all this time? I thought they took you too" Lyon was almost in tears at the sight of the raven-haired boy. Gray grinned at Lyon when he released him from his embrace.

"I'm living with Natsu and Lucy now. They are nice people" Gray said with a smile

"Natsu and Lucy? Humans?" Lyon questioned worriedly as he started to search Gray for any injuries or any sort of unusual appearance. He sighed in relief to see that Gray was fine. "Yea! But they are really nice, they bought me this jacket! And shoes!" Gray excitedly pointed to his white jacket that he was wearing and blue sneakers. They had to buy Gray some new clothes as he was going to stay longer than expected, Lucy didn't have many clothes that fit Gray anyway.

"Do they know?" Lyon asked as he grabbed Gray's shoulders, edging the boy to tell him the answer.

"Know?" Gray just tilted his head to one side in confusion

"About us"

"Us?"

"You know, how we are different from them" Lyon was getting impatient as he tightened the grip on Gray's shoulders

Gray's face suddenly lit up as he finally understood what the other meant. He put his hands to his mouth and shook his head, indicating that he said nothing about what Lyon was referring to. Lyon let go of Gray and smiled in relief "Good boy" he patted Gray on the head.

"Gray!"

Gray turned around as he heard his name being called and saw Lucy running towards them.

"What are you doing to him?! Gray come here!" Lucy pulled Gray's hand to separate him and the silver-haired stranger. Gray stumbled to Lucy's side as he was pulled. Lucy glared at the man like a mother protecting her child.

"Woah woah, I think there's been a mistake" Lyon held up his hands in defence, but Lucy was too busy attending to Gray to hear what he said. "I told you not to wander off so far! You made me so worried" Lucy scolded as she checked his face for anything strange. "But Lucy…" Gray tried to protest but couldn't talk properly as Lucy started squeezing his cheeks. "This stranger would have took you away if I didn't come earlier"

"Hey lady, if anyone's a stranger here it would be you. I'll known Gray since he was a baby" Lyon was clearly annoyed that she wasn't listening and was ticked off when she labelled him as a stranger.

"How do I know that's true" Lucy took a step forward and challenged him

Lyon just shrugged "You can ask Gray" he pointed out confidently

Lucy glared at him and turned to Gray. "Is that true? You know this man Gray?"

Gray nodded "He is big brother Lyon!" he answered with a happy grin

"Lyon? You have a brother?" Lucy lifted an eyebrow at the new discovery

"Not really blood related, but like I said, I have known him since he was a baby." Lyon interjected with his explanation.

"Fine. You made your point" Lucy crossed her arms. "Wait" she suddenly said in realization "How come you never responded to all the "child found" notices we put up then?" It struck her that she found someone that knows Gray and probably can take him back home.

"Oh, I just moved here a few days ago, so I didn't notice I guess" Lyon answered plainly

"I see. You wanna come over to my place so we can talk about this more?" Lucy offered as she realised they were still in the supermarket and her legs were killing her due to all the walking they did today.

"Umm, sure" Lyon shrugged, surprised at the sudden change in attitude.

"Come on Gray, let's go pay and go home" Lucy grabbed Gray's hand and started to walk towards the cashiers.

"Ooiii! Lucy!"

Lucy turned her head to see Natsu running towards them. _"Shit! I almost forgot about Natsu!"_

"Why didn't… you tell me …you found Gray?" Natsu asked between pants "And who is this guy?" he added as he pointed towards the silver-haired man

"Oh, this is Lyon, apparently he knows Gray, we'll talk about it later at our place. Lyon, this is Natsu, he is the one who found Gray" Lucy introduced the two guys to each other.

"Ne Lucy" Gray suddenly pulled her shirt to get her attention "Can we get pizza for dinner?"

"Dinner? Oh yea!" Due to some sudden events, she had forgot that they were supposed to have dinner before going back. "Sure! You guys ok with pizza?"

"Sounds good to me!"

"I'm fine with anything"

"Yay!" Gray cheered while throwing his arms up to celebrate

* * *

It was already quite late when they got home, the sat together and ate the pizza that they just bought as they got to know each other more. They chuckled as Gray was nodding off with a half-eaten pizza in his hands. The little guy sure eat a lot, it was already his 3rd piece.

"Come on Gray, time for bed" Lucy said as she took the pizza out of his hands and lifted him out of the chair. "But I'm not... sleepy yet" he protested between a yawn as he rubbed his eyes. "Of course you're not" Lucy snickered as she carried him to the bathroom to get cleaned up before putting him bed.

Lyon smiled at the scene. _"Looks like he is in good hands"_

"So, are you and Lucy together?" Lyon asked suddenly, making Natsu choke on his pizza.

"W-What?!" Natsu managed to say before drinking some water to wash down the pizza.

"Why are you so shocked? You know, a girl and a guy living under the same roof? There's bound to be something" Lyon pointed out flatly with a smirk

"What?! No! We are just housemates! That's all!" Natsu defended himself while waving his pizza at Lyon.

"Is that so?"

"Shut up before I shove this pizza up your ass!"

"Ok Ok, calm down dude" Lyon waved his hands as a sign of surrendering while giving a laugh

"What are you guys talking about?" Lucy asked as she returned to the table after putting Gray to sleep.

"N-Nothing!" Natsu stuttered at her sudden reappearance

"Is Gray asleep?" Lyon asked while he shifted his seat in attempt to peek into Gray's room

"Yea. He drifted off as soon as his head hit the pillow, and he was still saying that he wasn't tired" Lucy exhaustedly flopped down on the chair

"Haha yea, typical Gray" Lyon chuckled

"So, are you going to bring Gray back to his parents? Where does he live anyway?"

"He lives in Tohio. And no, his parents are… not exactly available… to take care of him right now" Lyon answered awkwardly, trying to phrase his sentence without exposing the truth. _"It's best that they don't know"_

"Tohio?! That's like the next town!" Natsu jolted up from his seat in shock "I found him like a few blocks away from here. How did he…"

"I guess he was wandering on the streets for more than a couple of days" Lucy said as she solemnly looked down. "Why don't you take him home then? Since you **do** know him better" Lucy teased him a bit

"As much as I would like to, I can't, I live in a dorm, so there's not much room for Gray to stay"

"Dorm? Are you still a student or something?" Natsu eyed the man as he certainly didn't look that young to be a student.

"I'm a doctor. I recently transferred here so I haven't had the time to look for a proper place to stay yet" Lyon answered casually as Lucy looked at him with an impressed face.

"Hmmm what happened to his parents exactly? Gray said they were gone, did they… abandoned him or something?" Lucy frowned at the thought

"No! Of course not. They love him dearly. It's just that… something came up…" Lyon stayed silent after saying that and didn't seem to want to expose any more information regarding the matter.

Lucy and Natsu gave each other a look and decided not to pry further about Gray's parents as they saw that Lyon was getting uncomfortable.

"Well, I guess it's not really a problem if he stays here for the moment, we can decide what to do later. And it's getting late, do you wanna stay the night? The couch is always opened" Lucy offered jokingly with a smile

"Yea, thanks for taking care of him." Lyon smiled and look down "I never thought I would see him again" he whispered softly. "Oh, and it's ok, I can go back on my own, thanks for the offer" he regained his composure and stood up to head for the door.

Lucy and Natsu accompanied Lyon to the door. "Call me if anything happens" Lyon made a phone gesture with his hand and put on his shoes. "You can stop by anytime to check up on Gray" Lucy said with a smile. Lyon nodded with a thanks and walked out the door.

"That was something, right Natsu?" Lucy said after she closed the door. When she didn't get a reply she turned around to see that Natsu was already heading to his room.

"Mou, at least go take a bath Natsu!" Lucy's shout was futile as she heard Natsu closed his room door. She sighed as she went to the bathroom to wash up before heading to bed herself. She found out more about Gray today, but the more she knew the more questions arise. " _It doesn't seem that we will be getting more answers soon"_ Lucy thought as she looked at herself in the mirror. _"But it's going to be ok I guess"_ Lucy thought as she laid on her bed and drifted off to dreamland not long after that.

Lucy and Natsu slept the night away, unknowing of the changes that Gray would be facing and that the answers to their questions would come sooner than they thought.


	5. 5

Lyon laid on his bed in his dorm as he was looking through some photos on his phone. There was one where Gray was playing with bubbles, crying because he scrapped his knee, enjoying his ice cream, and a lot more. There was one that he particularly liked, which was a photo of Gray on his 4th birthday, where Gray was smiling happily along with his parents as they sang him his birthday song. " _Almost a year ago, things were so good…."_ Lyon smiled bitterly at the photo.

"At least I know he is fine now" Lyon said to himself as he walked over to the calendar to see what appointments he had for the week. "Hmmmm I have an appointment on the 20th of July, then one on 23rd July…" he put his hand on his chin as he scanned through the calendar. " _This date seems familiar…"_ he tapped his chin with his finger as he tried to remember what the occasion was, then he looked at his phone and realized something.

"Holy shit! It's Gray's birthday next week!" he put both of his hands on his head in shock, wondering how he forgot such an important date. "Gray is turning 5 next week!" he excitedly cheered at the thought of throwing a party for Gray. _"Wait… Gray is turning 5… he is turning 5….. Holy shit!"_ Lyon's mind suddenly clicked at the sudden realization.

"I have to keep him away from Lucy and Natsu" Lyon mumbled to himself as though forming a plan. "I can't let them find out, but what do I do?" Lyon was walking around in circles inside his room, cracking his head for a solution. He couldn't ask Gray to stay in his dorm for long, and he hadn't found a place to move to yet. The conclusion he came to was to deal with what was coming first and solve the rest later.

He sat on a chair as he dialed a number on his phone and listened to the dial tone as he waited for the other to pick up.

"Hello?" Lyon started nervously as he heard the phone connected

"Oh hey Lyon, what's up?"

"Hey Lucy, I have something to tell you" he paused before continuing "Erm… it's Gray's birthday next Saturday"

"WWHAATT?!"

Lyon pulled his phone away from his ears at the sudden outburst. He waited a while before putting it near his ear again. "Congratulations, you just made me deaf" he said sarcastically

"Oh I'm sooooo sorry Lyon! I was just surprised" Lucy gave a sheepish laugh through the phone

Lyon rolled his eyes at her apology "I was thinking of throwing a birthday party for him at your place if you are fine with it"

"That sounds great! I'll tell Natsu"

"Don't tell Gray yet. I wanna make it a surprise"

"Yea sure! He's taking a nap right now anyways"

"You sure you didn't wake him up with your deafening scream just now?" Lyon jokingly teased her

Then he heard Lucy's quick footsteps as she rushed somewhere, most probably to Gray's room.

"Nope! Still out like a light"

Lyon gave a laugh at the fact that she actually went and checked. "Oh, I have another favor to ask"

"What is it?"

"I was thinking of taking Gray over to my place for a week after the party is over. I kinda wanna spent some time with him. You know, do brotherly bonding stuff?" Lyon unconsciously scratched the side of his face sheepishly. He was never good at expressing these kinds of things. If everything goes as planned, he could actually bring Gray out to have some fun.

"I don't see why not. He's all yours Lyon"

"Thanks Lucy. I'll contact you later about the preparations"

"Sure. Chat ya later~ Bye!"

"Bye"

Lyon gave a sighed as he lowered his phone. "That went well… Now… for the preparations" he stood up and looked around his messy room. He stood there for a few seconds "I'll clean this up next week" he mumbled as he walked out of his room to do some real preparations for the upcoming ordeal and the party.

* * *

On the day of the party...

"Natsu! You're not supposed to hang that there!" Lyon shouted at Natsu for hanging the wrong ribbon

"What?! Isn't it the same? Just hang the other color somewhere else!" Natsu complained at Lyon's stubbornness.

Lucy and Gray were out shopping while Natsu and Lyon were left in the house to do the final preparations, namely setting up the place. They have been decorating the room for almost an hour now and Lyon's demanded perfectionism wasn't helping.

"No! Not that!" Lyon ordered again

"You do it then!" Natsu threw the ribbon to Lyon as he jumped down from the ladder

"Fine! Go pick up the cake then." Lyon said with a facepalm and started climbing the ladder with the ribbon in his hand.

Another hour later, Lyon was finally finished with the decorations. Just as he slumped down on the couch to rest, his phone started ringing.

"Hello?"

"Hey Lyon, can we come back yet?" Lucy was on the other end

"Umm, the house is done, just waiting for Natsu to come back with the cake"

"Ok, I'll wait another 10 more minutes"

As they ended their conversation, the front door barged opened to reveal Natsu panting heavily as he held a box that held the cake in his hands. "I… Thought… I was… Gonna be late" He said between deep breaths

"You're just in time, Lucy is gonna be back in 10 minutes. Let's prep the table" Lyon gestured towards the table as he went to the kitchen to get plates and utensils.

Natsu put the cake on the table and slowly took it out from the box. It was a chocolate cake with white frosting and strawberries decorated in a circle on the top. "Happy birthday Gray" was written on top fancily. They had noticed how Gray liked anything chocolate, like how all kids do, he would order chocolate for ice-cream, parfait, drinks. But he was also fond of strawberry, never missing a chance to eat one. The last time he found out that they bought strawberries, they found him sitting in front of the fridge with the last strawberry in his mouth and an empty box laid next to him. From that day onwards they had to hide the strawberries if they want to have a chance to eat it themselves. So the combination they had chosen for the cake should be just right for Gray.

Just as Lyon and Natsu had finished putting everything on the table. The front door opened again to reveal Lucy who is holding Gray's hand.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRAY!" they all shouted as the duo entered the room

Gray, who was looking pretty tired a few seconds ago, suddenly beamed with excitement as he saw all the stuff that they had prepared. There were balloons floating in the living room, the table was filled with yummy looking food with a fabulous cake in the middle, there was a sparkling banner spelling "Happy Birthday" in the background and colorful ribbons surrounded the place. Gray jumped around pulling at the balloons and watched them float back to the ceiling before pulling them down again, giggling with joy. Then he smelt all the delicious fragrance and started running to the table. Natsu helped him up the chair. Gray stood up on the chair to look at all the food in awe.

"I can eat all of this?" Gray asked with exhilaration

"Yea! It's your birthday! You can eat whatever you want tonight" Lyon answered as he ruffled his hair

"Why don't we make a wish with the cake first?" Lucy attracted Gray's attention to the cake in the middle

"Cakey! Make a wish! Make a wish!" Gray bounced in his seat while clapping his hands

Lyon lighted the candles and brought the cake in front of Gray. They started to sing happy birthday to Gray and clapped with the rhythm, while Lyon recorded the whole scene with his phone. "Happy birthday to youuuu~" they ended the song and Gray made a wish then blew the candles, everyone clapped.

"You're 5 now Gray!" Natsu cheered and gave a toothy grin at Gray who was also grinning happily. Nobody noticed that Lyon gave Gray a worried look as they started to sit down and begin their hearty meal.

* * *

"You told Gray about going to my place right?" Lyon questioned Lucy as he sat beside Gray who was now out like a light on the couch, a happy smile plastered on his face as he mumbled something in his sleep. Lyon gave a small soft smile as he wiped off some sauce from the corner of Gray's mouth.

"Yup! He said yes without a second thought" Lucy answered from the kitchen as she brought the dishes to the sink where Natsu was in charge of cleaning them.

"What? There's more?" Natsu whined as he saw another pile of plates being put beside him

"Stop complaining, you ate the most anyway."

Natsu just pouted and continued soaping the dishes

Lyon looked at the clock and decided it was time to go. "I think we'll be leaving now, it's getting late." He carefully scooped up Gray and carried him in his arms.

"Here, I packed some of Gray's clothes and other stuff that he might need" Lucy handed him a small backpack.

"Oh, thanks. I really appreciate everything that you guys have done for this little guy" Lyon averted his gaze to the sleeping Gray in this arms while taking the backpack with his free hand.

"Nah, it's ok, it's not that hard to take care of him" Lucy smiled and waved to him at the door

"Good night. See you after a week"

"Night"

* * *

Lyon placed Gray on his bed as they reached the dorm, he was surprisingly still sleeping. Lyon brushed away some of Gray's hair on his forehead with his hands and smiled at the peaceful look on Gray's face. _"I hope I can still see this peaceful face after this…"_

Lyon's expression turned serious as he looked at the clock. It was almost time. _"I'll make sure he gets through this"_ he sat on his chair as he eyed Gray firmly. He had prepared for this day since last week, he was just worried that it might be different for Gray due to his genetic heritance. He kept a watchful eye on the boy as the hours slowly ticked away.

* * *

 **Hey guys~ hope you are enjoying the story so far. Yea, I know some stuff is getting confusing, but pls bear with me, I'm trying not to drag the story too long, do let me know what you think. Thanks~ See you in the next chapter =)  
**


	6. Caution

"Ryoute hiroge oozora miage mae yori hikaru yume wo kiza-" the alarm was cut off by a half-awake Lyon as he swiped the dismiss button on his phone and throwing it back to the table once more. However, realization hit him suddenly before he could close his sleep-deprived eyes again "Shit!" he sprang up from his seat, he had fallen asleep at some point through the night. He quickly turned his attention to the raven on his bed. He heave a sigh of relief as he saw that the boy was alright and still sleeping soundly. "I guess it didn't happen…" Lyon yawned while stretching his arms and gave his head a lazy scratch.

"Lyon?" Looks like Gray was starting to wake up too, he sat up slowly and rubbed his eyes lethargically before taking a look around the room. He almost panicked at the unfamiliar room until he saw Lyon sitting opposite to him

Lyon looked at the boy and analyzed his expressions and body movements "Gray, do you feel strange or anywhere different?"

The boy stared at him for a while before looking at his hands and searched his body for anything unusual before turning back to Lyon with a confused face "No" he plainly answered.

Lyon went over to the bed to have a better look at the raven. He used one hand to hold onto Gray's chin and turned the boy's head gently to see both sides of his face. "Say ahhhh" Lyon said as he opened his mouth as well. Gray did as he was told "Ahhh" Lyon took a quick look at Gray's teeth and noted that they looked normal. _"Hmm… I guess he is different, well, it's better this way then"_ Lyon smiled at the thought

"What are you doing Lyon?" Gray asked as Lyon released his hold on his chin

"Checking whether your teeth fell off. You didn't brush your teeth last night before going to bed" Lyon joked.

Gray's eyes suddenly widened with fear and covered his mouth with his hands in shock. "D-Did they?" he sounded like he was about to cry

"Nah, but you better brush them up soon, I think one's about to" Lyon searched the backpack that Lucy gave him and found Gray's toothbrush, he gave it to Gray. Gray quickly followed Lyon to the bathroom in fear of his falling teeth. It was a dorm bathroom where there are a few stalls and sinks like a public toilet.

One of his dorm mates just got out of the shower and saw the duo. "Hey Lyon, didn't know you got a kid" he greeted while lowering his body a bit to give a small wave at the boy. Gray just shyly waved back while trying to hide behind Lyon.

"Nah, he's not mine, just taking care of him for the week" Lyon replied while grabbing a stool for Gray to stand on so he can reach the sink.

"Ahh, so that's why you took a week off. Don't like them catch you bringing a kid here though" he patted Lyon on the back as he headed out of the bathroom "Gotta meet a patient. Catch ya later" he waved as he exited

"Lyon not working?" Gray asked while trying to squeeze some toothpaste onto his toothbrush

"Nope. I'm gonna have fun with you for the week. We are gonna go explore the city, and maybe go to the newly opened theme park" Lyon helped Gray with the almost empty tube of toothpaste, those that need a bit of strength to push out the remaining content.

"Really?" Gray's eyes sparkled at the mention of theme park

"Yup. Now brush your teeth so we can go out and get breakfast" Lyon chuckled at Gray's excitement and started brushing his teeth as well.

* * *

With a blink of an eye, a week passed by and it was time for Gray to go back to Lucy and Natsu. Lyon and Gray were standing in front of the apartment door.

"You sure you don't feel anything unusual?" Lyon asked for the nth time that week. He wanted to make one last confirmation before letting him go.

"Yea" Gray answered, he was confused and a bit annoyed that Lyon had been asking him the same question almost every hour for the past week.

Lyon had to make sure that it was really alright to let Gray go back. But seeing that nothing happened throughout the week, it assured him that he might not have to worry that much after all. Lyon knocked on the door and was greeted by Lucy.

"Lucy!" Gray ran forward and hugged her

"Hey Gray, I missed you too" She almost tumbled a bit due to the impact. She steadied herself and ruffled the boy's soft raven locks while giving a smile

"Natsu isn't here?" Lyon asked as he tried to peek behind Lucy

"Yea, he's on his afternoon shift right now. You wanna come in?" Lucy stepped aside to indicate that she welcomed his company.

"It's ok, I gotta go back and work on my schedule. I have been off for a week, I'm gonna be swallowed by angry patients" Lyon jokingly said as he excused himself. "Oh, please call me if anything happens, and I mean **anything** " he emphasized before taking his leave

"Yea sure! See you next time then" Lucy waved as Lyon left

Little did they know that they would be seeing each other much sooner than they thought.

* * *

A week later, Lyon received a call that made him regret sending Gray back.

It was a busy evening at the hospital when he received a call from Lucy.

"Hello?" he shifted the patient's file that he was carrying to one arm before receiving the call with the other.

"Lyon! You have to come quick!" A very distressed Lucy was on the line.

"What happened?" Lyon quickly put down the file he was holding

"It's Gray!" at the moment that she mentioned Gray's name, Lyon's eyes widened and quickly rushed out of the room. Ignoring all the shouts from the nurses and the patient that he was attending to. Gray was more important than any patient.

"What's wrong with him?" he asked while on his way to his office to grab his car keys

"I-I don't know! He was fine this morning. Then… then he suddenly has a fever and now he screams if we touch him, like… like he's in pain! I don't know what to do" Lyon listened to Lucy's panicking voice as she explained the situation.

"I'm on my way. Put a warm towel on his head and try to lower his fever. I'll be there soon" with that he ended the call.

" _Shit! Why now?! Please let me reach there in time! I knew I shouldn't have brought him back so soon! God I'm so stupid! I shouldn't have let my guard down! Hang on Gray"_ Lyon could only pray that he was not too late.

* * *

 **The alarm song is Fairy Tail's 10th ending, Boys be Ambitious.**

 **I was thinking of writing Lyon and Gray's week together, but I think that's dragging the story too much. Also, I'll be going for some travelling so I wouldn't be able to upload the next chapter soon, but I promise I will as soon as I get back, and yea, some stuff will happen next chapter ;) thanks for all the support and hope to see you in the next chappie~ Cheers**


	7. Pain

Lyon reached the apartment in 20 minutes. He didn't care how many tickets he had gotten from speeding and ignoring the red lights, he had to attend to Gray as soon as he could.

"Lucy! Open up!" Lyon shouted as he banged on the door. There was the sound of running and the door opened shortly, he was greeted with a very worried-looking Lucy.

"He's in the bedroom!" she said as they rushed inside instantly

"AAARRGGHHHHHH" an ear-piercing high pitched scream came from Gray's room as they approached. The anguish yell pierced Lyon's heart as he realized how much pain Gray was in.

Natsu was in the room to keep an eye on Gray. He stood up as they two came into the room. The room was dark as the curtains were closed and the lights were off. The only source of light left was from the opened bedroom door, providing only enough light just to make out the figures in the room. It can be seen that the figure on the bed as in pain as the body thrashed around and let out whimpers and cried every now and then. Lyon quickly rushed to the boy's side without any further ado.

Gray was sweating a lot and panting heavily, his face contorted with pain. He felt like his body was burning from the inside out and that his bones were broken and reformed thousands of times. His mouth ached and his eyes were blurry. He couldn't even talk as it was so painful, he just wanted it to end. _"Mama… Papa…"_ how he wished his parents were here to comfort him right now and make the pain go away.

Gray screamed when Lyon touched his arm, Lyon flinched at the sound as he retracted his hand. _"This is bad"_

"Did you touch him just now Natsu?"

"I was just trying to change his towel. What's wrong with him?"

The two could only stared at the doctor in the room as they couldn't do anything but to wait for an answer from Lyon.

Lyon gave a sigh "I'll explain everything later. How long has he been like this?"

"He started having a fever about 2 hours ago"

"2 hours ago?! Why didn't you call me then?! I told you to call if anything happens!" Lyon lashed out at Lucy who took a step back in shock.

"Hey! No need to get all worked up dude!" Natsu stepped up to defend Lucy

Lyon massaged the top of his nose bridge to calm himself down. "Sorry, please continue"

"T-then when we tried to see if he's ok, he started screaming in pain when we touched him. And I immediately called you after that." Lucy finished

The two just watched as Lyon started poking Gray's cheek, earning some cries and struggles from the boy. He then used one hand to force open Gray's mouth while touching his teeth with the other, ignoring Gray's screams as he did so. He noticed that Gray's canines were now longer and sharper than usual. "It's still reshaping…" Lyon mumbled to himself as he examined Gray's condition.

"What are you doing?! You're hurting him!" Natsu wanted to step in and pull Lyon's hand out of Gray's mouth.

"Shouldn't we send him to the hospital?" Lucy asked timidly

"No! I'll handle it! Just shut up or leave!" Lyon shouted harshly

"Wha-" Natsu's protest stopped when Gray's eyes suddenly shot open and coughed out a handful of blood. "GRAY!" Lucy and Natsu shouted as they immediately rushed to his side and tried to wipe off the blood splattered on his tiny body.

Gray was panting even more heavily now, his eyes suddenly started flickering from red to dark blue before closing in pain again.

"D-did you see that?! His eyes!" Natsu pointed out in shock as he leaned closer to have a better look but Gray's eyes didn't open after that

"What?" Lucy was too busy wiping the blood to notice

Lyon just stood there deep in thought _"What is this?! I have never heard that they would cough out blood! It shouldn't take this long either…_ _Is it… is it because of his human side? It's being rejected?"_

Lyon snapped back to reality when Gray suddenly started screaming and thrashing again. Lucy backed off a bit at the scene, she covered her mouth with her hand as tears started to form in her eyes, it was so painful to watch and she couldn't do anything. Natsu just stared in dismay.

"Do something Lyon! You're a doctor right?!" Natsu shouted as he roughly pulled Lyon's collar towards him.

"I know!" Lyon shouted back and pushed Natsu's hand away. Natsu stared at his hand, nobody had ever pushed his hand away that easily before.

Lyon put one of his hands on Gray's chest "Gray, can you hear me? It's gonna be fine ok? You're gonna get through this" as Lyon finished his sentence, Gray could suddenly feel a cold and soothing sensation spreading from his chest, it was comforting and washed away some of the pain. Gray's panting became slower and his facial expression loosen a bit. Seeing that it helped, Lyon continued what he was doing. Over the next few minutes, Gray thrashed and screamed lesser, while mostly giving out some whimpers and small cries of discomfort.

"What did you do?" Natsu was confused and amazed at how putting a hand on Gray's chest would help so much. But no reply was given. When they thought that things would get better, Gray's stabilized breathing suddenly stopped. They all froze as they realized Gray's chest had stopped moving.

"GRAY!" they all shouted in panic. Lyon quickly placed his ear over the boy's chest and hurriedly started to do chest compressions on the raven. "This isn't supposed to happen! Come on Gray!" Lucy and Natsu tightened their grip on the boy's arm as they watched the doctor frantically trying to save the boy. "Gray…" Lucy's heart broke at the thought of losing the boy and knew it would be even harder for Lyon.

After a few more tries there was still no reaction from the boy. Lyon still desperately continued to try and save the boy. "Gray! Come on! You can't die!" Lyon wiped a tear that was threatening to fall with his sleeve and continued giving Gray CPR.

Lucy noticed that Lyon was shaking, his movements started to slow as he tried to keep in sobs. The white-haired man broke as his head fell to the boy's chest and let out his cries. "Gray I'm sorry! I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner, I'm sorry that I got careless! Please don't go…. Gray…" his voice died down to a whine. Lucy and Natsu could only watch in pain as they knew the doctor tried his best. The room was then silent except for the sobs. They comforted each other as the boy laid still under their gaze.

They were about to leave the room when suddenly Lyon heard something and his ears perked up.

 _Thump thump_

It was faint but Lyon could hear it.

 _Thump thump_

"Gray!" Lyon turned away from Lucy and Natsu's consoling grips and rushed back to the boy. The two followed suit.

"Come on Gray! You can do it!" Lyon followed the rhythm of his faint heartbeat and started to do chest compressions on the boy again. The other two watch anxiously, hoping for the best.

"Gray!" Natsu shouted as he saw the boy's fingers started to twitch a bit.

And as if on cue, the boy suddenly opened his mouth and took in a huge gasp of breath followed by a few coughs before settling down to stable breaths again. Lyon slumped to the ground in relief and let out a few tears of joy. But it was too soon for him to relax.

They were startled again when Gray suddenly started clawing his throat and groan in discomfort.

"Lucy! Natsu! I want you to get away from Gray now!" Lyon saw the signs and immediately told them to back away for their safety

"What? Why?" Natsu was confused at the sudden order

"Just go!"

Natsu and Lucy did as they were told and were now standing on each side of the doorway so that they don't block the light source of the room. Lyon made sure they were far enough before proceeding. They watched as Lyon took out something from his pockets, it was a white tube-like bottle. Lyon opened it and took out something that looked like a tablet pill, it was maroon in color, and he opened Gray's mouth with his hand before popping the tablet into his mouth. But Gray spat it out a few seconds after it came in contact with his tongue and gave a look of disgust.

" _What?! He rejected the pill? This is not good…"_ Lyon frowned

Gray slowly opened his eyes so that he could search for the substance that he craved. Lyon gasped as he saw Gray's eyes, they weren't their usual dark blue or the expected red; Lyon was staring into two orbs of mesmerizing violet that glowed brightly in the dark. Lucy and Natsu were both shocked at what they saw, but they said nothing as they know answers would have to wait.

Gray's eyes slowly adjusted and saw Lyon when his vision became clear. "L-Lyon…. T-Thirsty…" a coarse voice came from the boy, he looked at Lyon desperately as he clawed his throat once more in attempt of trying to get the uncomfortable feeling away.

"I know, Gray, I know" Lyon knew what Gray wanted but he wanted to make it as a last option. He tried offering Gray another maroon tablet, but the boy just frowned and turned his head to the other side as soon as the tablet reached his mouth.

Lyon sighed, he had to do it before Gray loses control. He sat down on the bed and pulled Gray up to his lap, Gray groaned at the sudden movement. With Gray seated on his laps, he bit his own wrist until it drew blood and placed it in front of Gray's mouth. At the scent of blood, Gray's violet eyes shone with lust in the dark, he sniffed and licked the blood until there's none left. Lyon softly pushed his wrist to Gray's mouth once more, urging the boy to do it. He felt two small hands grabbed his arm and took in a breath as Gray's small fangs caressed his skin. He winced as Gray bit into his wrist and started sucking to draw out blood.

Gray felt better as the metallic liquid went down his throat, it was soothing and washed away all the pain but he didn't know why. He didn't know that blood could taste so nice, it was way better than the thing that Lyon had offered before, and he wanted more. He greedily sucked on Lyon's wrist, trying to get more of the comforting substance from the wound until he felt satisfied.

The next few minutes were silent, the only sound that echoed in the room was the sound of Gray gulping down blood while Lyon comforted him by stroking his hair. Lyon looked down when he felt that Gray had stopped sucking on his wrist and found that the boy had fallen asleep just like that. _"At least pull out your fangs goddamnit!"_ Lyon mentally cursed as he carefully and slowly moved his arm while holding Gray's head in place with the other so that Gray's fangs would slit out of his wrist nicely. He watched as the wound healed itself and placed Gray back onto the bed.

Now, he had to explain everything to the two humans that were standing at the doorway and staring at him with wide eyes. He sighed. 


	8. Vampire

After making sure that Gray was now in a stable condition. Lyon walked out of the room and gestured the two to follow him to the living room. The three sat face to face, silence was broken by Lyon as he cleared his throat.

"Gray and I…. aren't actually humans…" Lyon trailed while lifting his head to look at the two's reactions.

The two humans looked less surprised than he expected.

"Well, after witnessing all that, we can pretty much figure that out. Let me guess… Vampires?" Lucy unexpectedly said in a calm manner while Natsu just stared at him with crossed arms, edging Lyon to just tell them everything.

Surprised by the calmness, Lyon nodded and shifted his sitting posture as he ran through the things that he needed to say in his mind.

"Vampires and humans used to coexist many years ago, but the number of vampires decreased over the years and are rarely known to humans nowadays. It is forbidden for a vampire and human to have a relationship, and a child between these two are a taboo to the society, that's one of the reasons why the number of vampires is decreasing." Lyon looked down

"What happens if they do?"

"The Council which is responsible for monitoring us will step in and take action against the ones that break the law, it's not clear what they do, but we seldom hear from those that were taken into custody."

Lucy and Natsu frowned as they understood what that meant.

"Unfortunately, Gray is one of those taboos." Lyon said as his eyes sadly shifted their gaze towards the boy's room. "Silver, Gray's father who is a vampire, and Mika, his mother who is a human, got into a relationship, but they were smart enough to keep it a secret from the Council, not long after that they had Gray. They managed to live together without the suspicion from the Council, but they eventually found out, Silver and Mika were arrested for breaking the law and were taken away, which was around 6 months ago. Well, that is what I believe had happened as they suddenly disappeared and left behind a messed-up house" Lyon took a deep breath at the end of his explanation.

"So when you said his parents aren't available to take care of him you mean…" Lucy realized what had happened "Does Gray know about what happened?"

"No, I just told him that his parents went somewhere for some important event and may not come back soon. I'll tell him when the time is right. I guess he tried going home on his own when his parents didn't come to pick him up from preschool and got lost. He was always a daring kid." Lyon paused and gave something a thought "But surprisingly, the Council hasn't found out about Gray, and hopefully they never will." he gave a sad smile.

Lucy gave a slight nod of understanding "So… since his mother is a human, Gray is a… half-vampire?"

"Yes, he is what we call a dhampir, a child between a vampire and a human. There aren't many of them due to the law and because of the transformation."

"Transformation?"

"Yea, that's what Gray went through just now. Vampires only start needing blood when they reach 5 years old, in which they would go through a transformation to make their bodies stronger and fangs would settle in during this time. Before the age of 5, they are like any human child. But because dhampirs are half-humans, they might not go through the transformation, even if they do, their bodies aren't as strong and mostly couldn't survive through the transformation while dying in the process, that's why the Council decided to make a law to prevent further deaths. Gray is a miracle in this case." He gave a slightly proud smile

"Do they all… go through _that_?"

Lyon understood what Lucy was referring to. "Not really… Gray is different… Mostly, normal vampires would go through some pain as their senses get sharpened and bones would go through some reforming and the fangs would cause some discomfort. I assume there is a reason to why you turned off the bedroom lights right?" he gestured towards Lucy to get her agreement

"Yea, he said that his eyes hurt so I turned it off"

"That's because his eyesight is getting refined and is more sensitive to light. Usually they would just need like an hour in bed. But Gray…. I didn't know how to handle him actually… I think he screams when touched because his senses went overload, so even a touch results in pain for him… but I never heard that they would cough out blood or be in pain for so long… most probably his human side was getting rejected… there's pretty much about dhampirs that we don't know about, so… I'm just glad that he's ok now…" Lyon's voice wavered as he spoke, all that emotional stress and the fact that he almost lost Gray was getting to him.

"When nothing happened during the week he was living with me, I thought that he wouldn't be going through the process and he would live like a normal boy, which would be best for him. But I was careless, I should have known that he was different and should have observe him a while longer before letting him come back to you. I'm sorry for all the commotion that we have caused." Lyon recomposed himself while standing up and bowed for forgiveness.

"L-Lyon, please don't do that. There's nothing for you to bow for." Lucy immediately waved her hands in front of Lyon to show that there was nothing to be sorry for. "Gray is… Our family after all" her eyes softened as she spoke, thinking of how the boy had become like a little brother to them.

Lyon gave a surprised smile and sat back down. "I'm surprised at how you guys are… well… not surprised" he gave a shrug at his own loss of words.

"Well, I read about how vampires used to live with humans in some books, didn't think it would be true but didn't rule out the possibility of that either. I was surprised but not shocked at the fact you guys exist." Lucy pointed out. "And Natsu here is kind of a super-"

Lucy was interrupted when Natsu suddenly stood up and leaned forward with his hands on the table as he couldn't contain his excitement any longer "So do vampires really kill humans for blood? Are you scared of garlic? Does the sun hurt you? Well I guess not since you walk around in the day like normal… or do you use like some kind of sunscreen for vampires? Do you-" Lucy had to cover his mouth and pull him back to his chair before he scared Lyon any further, ironically. The man had his back glued to the chair in attempt to get away from the sudden outburst of questions.

Lucy sighed in annoyance "He's a supernatural fan as you can see"

Lyon sweatdropped and looked at Natsu who was staring at him with sparkling eyes "Yea, I can see that. And the answers to those questions are not really, no, yes if we stay in it for too long, and I don't think they make something like that." He said while crossing his arms in amusement.

"Wait, what do you mean by "not really", do you actually drink from humans and just… not kill them?" Lucy interrogated

Lyon dug into his pockets and took out the tube-like bottle that he had earlier. "We use this to suppress our… _needs_ " he said as he took out a maroon tablet. "This is a blood tablet, it's made with artificial blood. We take this when we are… thirsty. We do drink human blood from time to time as our bodies need it for nutrient, but the blood is supplied by the Council so we don't really… drink from humans in a way." He explained awkwardly

Natsu took the tablet from Lyon and examined it. "Didn't you give this to Gray just now? He kind of… spat it out?"

"Yea… it's quite rare but some vampires don't really like the taste of it. They have a hard time with their cravings as they can only be satisfied by real blood which is limitedly supplied by the Council. They are monitored even more strictly as it is easier for them to go out of control… and attack humans" Lyon explained with caution.

"So does that mean Gray…"

"It will be a bit of a problem. I gave him my blood to subdue his urges for the first time, it will be kind of messy if I didn't. But since he just turned, he can still be taught to take blood tablets and control his cravings, it can be done if we teach him from the beginning. We can't let him get used relying on real blood, especially human blood, or it will result in something troublesome." Lyon said with a serious face and placed the bottle on the table.

"Do you take these like every day?" Natsu placed the tablet back into the bottle

"No, I usually take one every 3 days but I'm not sure how will Gray react. Since he is still young, his parents didn't tell him about how to handle this vampire thing, so he actually has no clue on what is happening to him. He only knows that he can't tell people about our existence. So we will have to see how he acts and teach him" Lyon had a concerned face

"Are you… going to take him away now? Since… you know… we kind of shouldn't know of your existence?" Lucy hesitantly asked

"Are you going to do that mind wipe thing on us?" Natsu questioned with a hand gesture as though he was pushing a button in midair.

"What? No!" Lyon objected "There's no law saying that humans can't know the existence of vampires, it's just that we preferably keep it a secret to avoid unnecessary panic, but you two are exceptional I guess and I did say 'we' didn't I?" he hinted Lucy with a chuckle.

Lucy immediately perked up. "Right! Make him eat tablets. How hard can it be?"

"Just dissolve it in a drink and say it's juice! Easy peasy lemon squeezy~" Natsu joined in

Lyon just smirked and shook his head

"You have no idea"


End file.
